President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf of Liberia has called for the creation of more job opportunities for the teeming youths in Africa.
Johnson made the call at the 7th Joint Annual Meeting of Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and African Ministers of Finance in Abuja on Saturday.
Johnson, who spoke on Common African Position on Post-2015 Development Agenda, said good governance had become imperative for building strong and dynamic economy.
She said Africa had agreed on six common pillars on the post-2015 development agenda.
The pillars, she said, were structural economic transformation, inclusive growth, science, technology and innovation, and people-centered development.
Others are environmental sustainability, natural resources management, disaster/ risk management, peace and security, as well as finance and partnership.
According to her, sustainable development must get to the people; we must focus on service delivery, especially in education. “African priorities must be properly financed and effective participation of the private sector is needed’’, she said.
Mr Carlos Lopes, the Executive Secretary of ECA, said Africa must innovate in the business of transformation by adopting current trends in its industrialisation policy.
“The industrialisation models of import substitution used in Latin America or Southeast Asia are no longer options for Africa. “The latter was based on the premise of mass production with cheap labour and great absorptive capacity and significant resource savings,” he said.
According to him, Africa has to fight for a level playing ground under adverse weather, noting that the current trade and climate change negotiation were not in Africa’s favour.
He said agriculture must play a fundamental role in the continental structural transformation with 60 per cent labour force employed in the sector.